Community Acupuncture is a way of offering acupuncture, based on a sliding fee scale, making it affordable for all. The Community Acupuncture movement began in 2011, with the opening of the first clinic in Portland, Oregon. Acupuncture is a process in which the most benefits are achieved from regular treatments, because acupuncture is about wellness. Our suggestion is to have more than one treatment, or as many as you can. Each time deepens and strengthens your wellness. I have seen the health benefits of receiving regular acupuncture treatments in my own life. Some people say they prefer community, because it feels good to have other people around. It certainly is an opportunity for you to allow yourself to relax and enjoy a quiet time. We need you to make yourself comfortable in the treatment room, relax in a chair, take a blanket, and put your feet up while we treat you. Community may require a little flexibility on your part. Sometimes you may find someone sitting in your favorite chair, or, hear another person snoring. Please adapt to these circumstances. Also, feel free to bring favorite pillows, blankets, earplugs, or headphones from home. We will make every effort to speak softly. If you do hear noises, please allow them to take you deeper into a meditative state. In terms of how long you want to stay, tell us at the start of your treatment if you need to be somewhere at a certain time. Once your needles are in, take some time to rest and, or, take a nap. When you feel done, open your eyes and give us a meaningful look (if your eyes are closed, we will think you’re asleep and might not be so quick to wake you). So, acupuncture is the insertion in strategic places in the body of very thin (hairlike), filiform (solid), sterile, needles which are said to move the blockage out of the path in order for the body to heal. When inserted, there may be a sensation of dullness, aliveness, coolness, heaviness, numbness, mild ache, or warmth. The body takes note of this and either, electrically, or neurologically, stimulates a focus in that area for the body itself to create a healing. So, how does it work, really? There is no simple answer to that question. Possibly there is yet no scientific answer. We might say that it stimulates the body’s own natural pain killers, endorphins, as a reason for why it works as anesthesia during surgery. Neuroimaging studies show a variety of ways in which the insertion of these tiny needles affects the brain and body. Acupuncture stimulates blood flow and tissue repair at the needle sites, sending nerve signals to the brain to regulate the perception of pain, and to signal the body’s healing abilities. These are shown on MRI. When the needles are rotated by the practitioner they are shown to wrap around connective tissue, and again, send releasing signals to the body via these meridian, or Qi highways. Recent scientific studies, using functional MRI, have shown that the brain is signaled when one receives acupuncture, and responds by increasing immune system elements and activating neurotransmitters. If disease is considered to be an imbalance in the body system, then acupuncture activates the body’s own healing energy through manipulation of Qi, blood and body fluids, and, thus, the body sets up it’s own healing system. Lisa Rohleder and Skip Van Meter, the couple that started the original community acupuncture clinic in Oregon, received inspiration from the traditional Chinese bed setup when they traveled to the East. Since then, the community acupuncture movement has grown from one clinic to over 300 worldwide. This growth in the community acupuncture movement comes at a time when acupuncture is becoming recognized more and more as necessary preventative medicine. Acupuncturists all over the country are pushing for acupuncture to be covered under Obama’s new health care plan. By 2014, Section 3502 of President Obama's health care reform could mandate the Bureau of Health Statistics to formally recognize acupuncture as a profession, opening the door for people to have more wellness options.- Dona McGlennen L.Ac.